Politics
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Does Obama Have Less Room for Error?
It’s too bad Michael Steele is so obsessed with equating himself to President Barack Obama. The chairman of the Republican National Committee tried to put his troubles on the same plane as the president’s on Monday when he was getting heat about his management of the GOP’s fundraising arm. Steele was accused of playing the…
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NEWS STAND: Steele Trouble, South Africa Heats Up, Flying While Brown
Hey Michael Steele: Republicans Want Accountability at RNC Now that a brother’s in charge, Republicans want accountability? Riddle me this, Michael Steele wasn’t at the strip club, but should be held responsible for his idiotic colleagues. For all of this trouble, Steele should have gone with them and gotten a lap dance. Cue the theme…
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The Danger in the Extremist Rhetoric of the Tea Party
As a youthful admirer of leftist protest movements during the 1960s, I became a connoisseur of violent political rhetoric. Which is to say that I‘m acquainted with the power of angry words to fuel explosive action. And how, like mystics chanting a mantra to enter a mindless trance, extremist activists, on both the left and…
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Eggs Roll on the White House Lawn
Thirty-thousand kids and parents attended the Obama White House’s second annual Easter Egg Roll during a beautiful spring day in Washington Monday. The president and first lady, along with their daughters, Malia and Sasha, and first grandmother, Marian Robinson, greeted the crowds from the south portico of the White House, overlooking a stretch of lawn…
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Quick Clips: Jobs Are Up
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 162,000 jobs were added in March. It should be noted that within those stats are the temporary census workers hired by the government. Still, the data available indicates that the economy is turning around at a slow, steady pace. For a look at a quick breakdown of the…
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Your Take: Why Black Folks Won't Drink the Tea (Party)
It took one word for the point to hit home: “Hypnotized.” Hearing that word from a black Tea Party patriot during a recent television interview demonstrated why so many black people want no parts of the Tea Party. I have joined my fellow black conservatives in an effort to make black America politically diverse. We…
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Why Michael Steele Will Stay
It’s ironic that the first chairman of the Republican National Committee who descended from slaves might finally be ousted from power by a scandal known as “Bondage-Gate.” And yet the incident, involving RNC expenditures at an S&M-themed nightclub in West Hollywood, puts Michael Steele—the first black head of the powerful conservative arm once run by…
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Michelle Bachmann Says There's No Proof Black Lawmakers Were Harassed
It’s the moral equivalent of “You Lie!” Conservatives have been skeptical of claims by black members of Congress that civil rights pioneer John Lewis was called the “N” word and that another Congressman was spat upon by protesters during the health-care debate. Now the conservative Minnesota Republican has come out and openly expressed the doubts…
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Why So Few Blacks Join Immigration Rallies
At last week’s immigration march on Washington, tens of thousands of immigrants and activists rallied around the Capitol Building, calling for legislation that would afford legal status to the millions of illegal immigrants living and working within the United States. While official crowd estimates for such events are notoriously unreliable, the New York Times noted…
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Shirley Franklin Helps Close the Broadband Divide
A BlackWeb 2.0 Special for The Root Former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin has taken on a new role as an advocate for broadband access for the underserved. She was recently named by the Alliance for Digital Equality as a senior policy adviser. In a special report to Roll Call, Franklin and former Miami Mayor Manny…